Altogether Benito
and Maria were on the edge of despair.
Shortly after the death of Benito's parents, his elder brother had made
one of a band of artisans, laborers and soldiers, in company with two
Franciscan priests, to the province of Nueva California. Diego, who was
of a roving disposition, had wandered off to the south, working at his
trade of carpentry as the mood seized him, or the state of his pocket
forced him, now here, now there, until finally he found himself in the
coast town of San Blas. This was the point from which many of the
expeditions to the northern province set sail; and the busy preparations
for departure, which Diego witnessed, fired his desire to join a company
about to leave for the remote, half-mythical region in the north. This
he did, and, some weeks later, landed at Monterey, whence, in the course
of the next year, he worked his way south until he reached Mission San
Buenaventura. Here he settled down permanently, having grown tired of
his aimless life, and became an active and useful man to the Father.
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